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Monday, July 16, 2012

Skip the chips

I grew up a farm girl. We had
some form of potatoes with pretty much every meal. The saying “meat and potatoes” family is not
a myth, it’s reality here in Iowa. Baked,
fried, mashed, frenched, hashbrowns…you name it, I love it! The other thing we
had with every meal? Bread. Meat, potatoes, bread and a veggie. These were the staples of our plates. I’ve never been shy about the fact that I’m a
complete carb addict but I have found this does not bode well with trying to
lose weight. It’s heartbreaking really
to say goodbye to some of my favorite comfort foods. I mean, put a basket of bread in front of me
at a restaurant and you better be prepared for refills. Who needs the main meal when you have
rolls? Hence, the lovely muffin top I sport
above my pants. Sissy’s wedding is just
under three weeks away and as I’ve shared, the dress zips but the breathing isn’t
real comfortable. My husband has always
preached at me about my carbs and I always ignored him because I love them and
they make me feel full and happy. Also
because I had no idea the amount of carbs I was consuming was atrocious because
that was my normal. He told me if I wanted
to make sure the dress fits more comfortably and I wanted to do it healthy
(which, of course, I do) that I needed to watch my carbs. Not watch them fill
my plate and slide into my mouth but watch the amount. He told me to cut them back to around 100
grams a day. Say what?!?! Carbs are in
nearly everything. I played with a few
sample menus and thought he had completely lost his marbles. All I could basically eat was lean proteins
and veggies. Well, duh, that makes sense
but I still hate it when he’s so very right.

For the last week I worked very hard to keep my carbs around 100. It was tough some days! But I found ways around it and my body feels
much “lighter”. I’m not crashing from
sugar highs and carb binges. I feel much
more level. Saturday night I made
chicken tacos. I diced up chicken and
simmered with lemon juice, salsa, hot sauce, cilantro, minced garlic and
onions. It was heavenly and is one of
the boy’s favorite meals! It was tough
to find a low carb tortilla that tasted decent but I budgeted my day so that I could
enjoy one. Today I made a salad. No tortilla and no baked Doritos or other
chips like I would’ve normally done. I
used 2 cups of lettuce, the chicken, shredded 2% reduced fat cheese, cilantro,
onion, salsa, and instead of sour cream, I used a dollop of plain greek yogurt. It was awesome! I didn’t miss the carbs or
crunch of the chips and I saved myself 140 calories and 8 grams of fat that way
too. There was enough flavor and crunch
from the onions and lettuce to make my mouth very happy and my tummy full. Breakfast was egg whites, spinach, turkey
sausage and feta cheese. My afternoon
snack is yogurt so I have enough carb wiggle room to make my tuna tonight and
eat it on a piece of flatout bread with fat free mayo, dill relish, a dash of
hot sauce and one piece of fat free American cheese. With only 68 carbs and 984 calories, I will
definitely have enough leeway in my food budget to enjoy a bowl of Blue Bunny
hi-lite vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries tonight. Yeah, my mouth is watering a little bit just
thinking about it too. I heart dessert
and it is national ice cream month so don’t judge me.

Oh and speaking of mouthwatering, has anyone seen the commercials for
Pizza Hut’s new garlic bread pizza?
Again, Lyndee loves any bread but throw garlic, cheese and toppings on
and I’m putty in your hands. This
commercial was so real I could almost smell the pepperoni and bubbling cheese
through my television. My inner fat girl
was drooling uncontrollably. Consider a
piece of pizza hut garlic bread with cheese is 240 calories and 15 grams of
fat, adding any toppings whatsoever could only be catastrophic. Sigh.
I guess I will just have to try to concoct this at home with light
garlic bread, turkey pepperoni and reduced fat cheese and see how it turns
out. This is another great example of
why we should look up stats before we eat something and why impulse buying is a
terrible idea. I’m glad I was already
eating my fish and sweet potato fries before I saw the commercial because my
will power may have been weak. But I avoided
a bad decision and my bridesmaids dress thanks me for it.

4 comments:

Wow... 100 carbs. I thought I was doing well with this, so I proudly went to go check it out... yeah. Not so much. It's the fruit that kills me. Well, that and my coffee creamer. Guess I need to cut that coffee back out again. Watching it with ya!!

Wow... 100 carbs. I thought I was doing well with this, so I proudly went to go check it out... yeah. Not so much. It's the fruit that kills me. Well, that and my coffee creamer. Guess I need to cut that coffee back out again. Watching it with ya!!

Tammy, use a program such as sparkpeople or livestrong to log your food. These will give you a carb vs protein vs fat breakdown. Avoid bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and sweets as much as possible. Do without the can of pop or full flavor gatorade (opt for G2 or powerade zero). Go with lean proteins such as chicken, tuna, pork, turkey and pair it with a veggie (not corn though-high starch and carbs). String cheese and yogurt are great snacks. Egg whites make a delicious and filling breakfast. Also keep an eye out for condiments like ketchup and bbq sauce as they are pure carbs.